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Google's new algorithm will make Chrome run much faster

Google's new algorithm will make Chrome run much faster

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A new compression algorithm called Brotli

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Chrome is about to load web pages a lot faster than you've experienced up until now. Thanks to a new compression algorithm called Brotli, which Google introduced last September, Chrome will be able to compress data up to 26 percent more than its existing compression engine, Zopfli, which is an impressive jump.

According to Google's web performance engineer Ilya Grigorik, Brotli is ready to roll out, so Chrome users should expect to see a bump in load times once the next version of Chrome is released. Google also says Brotli will help mobile Chrome users experience "lower data transfer fees and reduced battery use." The company is hailing Brotli as "a new data format" that Google hopes will be adopted by other web browsers in the near future, with Firefox seemingly next in line to adopt it. But for now, expect to notice your web pages loading a bit faster in the coming weeks.

Update: January 20th 10:30AM: Updated to note that Firefox will also adopt Brotli in a future update.


What's Tech? with Chris Plante

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